Crm application for analysing and generating actionable reports based on activity of users on a product portal

ABSTRACT

A computer implemented method of analyzing and generating actionable reports based on activity of users on a product portal using a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) application is provided. The product portal includes multimedia files demonstrating features of a product that are stored in a database ( 112 ) of an application server ( 104 ). The users have a profile on the product portal that includes plurality of community buttons. The method includes processing one or more inputs from a plurality of users based on one or more activity of the users on the features of the product, generating an analysis based on the one or more activities of the plurality of users, and generating the actionable reports based on the analysis.

BACKGROUND

1. Technical Field

The embodiments herein generally relate to customer relationship management tools, and, more particularly to the use of data and patterns in user navigation and interaction for customer relationship management.

2. Description of the Related Art

CRM (Customer Relationship Management) analytics encompasses all strategies, tools and programming that analyzes data about an enterprise's customers and presents it so that better and quicker business decisions can be made. It involves using technology to organize, automate, and synchronize business processes including sales related activities, marketing, customer service, and technical support. Customer service capabilities include web self-service, knowledge management, email response management, web chat, collaborative browsing and virtual assistants. Sales analytics let companies monitor and understand customer actions and preferences, through sales forecasting, data quality management, and dashboards that graphically display key performance indicators (KPIs).

Customer service analytics are increasing in popularity as companies demand greater visibility into the performance of call centers and other support channels, in order to correct problems before they affect customer satisfaction levels. Support-focused applications typically include dashboards similar to those for sales, plus capabilities to measure and analyze response times, service quality, agent performance, and the frequency of various customer issues. CRM analytics can provide customer segmentation groupings (for example, at its simplest, dividing customers into those most and least likely to repurchase a product); profitability analysis (which customers lead to the most profit over time); personalization (the ability to market to individual customers based on the data collected about them); event monitoring (for example, when a customer reaches a certain dollar volume of purchases); what-if scenarios (how likely is a customer or customer category that bought one product to buy a similar one); and predictive modeling (for example, comparing various product development plans in terms of likely future success given the customer knowledge base).

Customer data collection for analysis is the key aspect to determining the above mentioned parameters. Customer data can be gathered from various sources such as product review websites, the company's own website, and various user forums on different websites. However, this data is largely scattered and it is difficult to extract meaningful insights from this scattered data. A common approach to gather customer data is by the formation of focus groups, in which a group of people are asked about their attitude towards a product or service. However, the sample sizes are limited and may not be reflective of the entire customer base. Other methods for gather customer data tend to be more intrusive and invasive, and there is a possibility of compromising on the privacy and anonymity of users.

SUMMARY

In view of the foregoing, an embodiment herein provides a a computer implemented method of analyzing and generating actionable reports based on activity of users on a product portal using a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) application. The product portal includes multimedia files demonstrating features of a product that are stored in a database of an application server. The users have a profile on the product portal that includes a plurality of community buttons.

The method includes processing at one or more inputs from a plurality of users based on one or more activity of the users on the features of the product, generating an analysis based on the one or more activity of the plurality of users, and generating the actionable reports based on the analysis. The selection of the community buttons indicates one or more of a user response to one or more of the product portal, or the features of the product. The buttons are present on a plurality interfaces on the product portal. The activity includes any of a problem level, a problem nature, a disfunctioning, a new use, a new feature of the product, a behavior of the users on the product portal, and on the features of the product, or a geography associated with the users. The method further includes communicating the actionable reports to one or more Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs).

In another aspect, a CRM application system to analyze and generate actionable reports based on activity of users on a product portal is provided. The product portal includes multimedia files demonstrating features of a product that are stored in a database of an application server. The users have a profile on the product portal. The product portal includes a plurality of community buttons. The CRM application system includes an activity analyze module that generates an analysis based on the activity of users on the features of the product on product portal and a report generation module that generates the actionable reports based on the analysis.

The system further includes a communication module that communicates the actionable reports to one or more of Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs). The report generation module generates the actionable reports based on one or more keywords used by the users in the product portal. The communication module communicates the actionable reports to the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) on a day-to-day-basis, an hourly basis, or a weekly basis. The activity includes any of a problem level, a problem nature, a disfunctioning, a new use, a new feature of the product, a behavior of the users on the product portal, and on the features of the product, or a geography associated with the users.

These and other aspects of the embodiments herein will be better appreciated and understood when considered in conjunction with the following description and the accompanying drawings. It should be understood, however, that the following descriptions, while indicating preferred embodiments and numerous specific details thereof, are given by way of illustration and not of limitation. Many changes and modifications may be made within the scope of the embodiments herein without departing from the spirit thereof, and the embodiments herein include all such modifications.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The embodiments herein will be better understood from the following detailed description with reference to the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates a system view of a user communicating with an application server through a network according to an embodiment herein;

FIG. 2 illustrates an exploded view of a CRM application of FIG. 1 according an embodiment herein;

FIG. 3A through 3D illustrates a user interface view of a myprofile button, a ispeak button; a community button, and a more button according to an embodiment herein;

FIG. 4 is a user interface view of a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Application according to an embodiment herein;

FIG. 5A through FIG. 5C illustrates a graphical representation of statistical data of users and products according to an embodiment herein;

FIG. 6A through FIG. 6F is a user interface view of a user profile according to an embodiment herein;

FIG. 7 illustrates a schematic diagram of a computer architecture used in accordance with the embodiment herein; and

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram illustrating a method of analyzing and generating actionable reports based on activity of users on a product portal using a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) application according to an embodiment herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED. EMBODIMENTS

The embodiments herein and the various features and advantageous details thereof are explained more fully with reference to the non-limiting embodiments that are illustrated in the accompanying drawings and detailed in the following description. Descriptions of well-known components and processing techniques are omitted so as to not unnecessarily obscure the embodiments herein. The examples used herein are intended merely to facilitate an understanding of ways in which the embodiments herein may be practiced and to further enable those of skill in the art to practice the embodiments herein. Accordingly, the examples should not be construed as limiting the scope of the embodiments herein.

As mentioned, there remains a need for analyzing and generating actionable reports based on activity of users on a product portal using a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) application in the product portal. The embodiments herein achieve this by providing a CRM application that processing at least one input from a plurality of users based on at least one of a activity of users on features of the product, generates an analysis based on the at least one activity of the plurality of users, and generating the actionable reports based on the analysis. Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to FIGS. 1 through 8, where similar reference characters denote corresponding features consistently throughout the figures, there are shown preferred embodiments.

FIG. 1 illustrates a system view 100 of a user 110 communicating with an application server 104 through a network 106 according to an embodiment herein. The system 100 includes a service provider 102, the application server 104, the network 106, a client computer 108 and the user 110. The application server 104 includes a product database 112 and a CRM tool 114. The application server 104 contains a description manual of products described by the service provider 102 of an electronic document. In one embodiment, the electronic document is a web page. The application server 104 may contain text/transcript of the user manual of the product.

In another embodiment, the application server 104 may contain a demo film of the user manual of the product. In addition, the application server 104 includes a customer relationship management (CRM) tool 114 communicating with original equipment manufacturers 116 or to a custom built application module for the OEM to address the issues related to a product. In one embodiment, the issues of the product is identified by the user 110 and published on the electronic document. The product database 112 contains information associated with each of the product. In addition, the product database 112 includes information associated with the product. The printer 120 enables the user 110 to print the relevant information from the text/transcript of the user manual.

FIG. 2 illustrates an exploded view 200 of a CRM application of FIG. 1 according an embodiment herein. The exploded view 200 includes the user 110, a database 202, an activity analyze module 204, a report generation module 206, a communication module 208, and the original equipment manufacturer 116. The database 202 includes features and comments on the products by the user 1100 based on the level of usage of the product by the user 110. The activity analyze module 204 analyses activity of the user 110 based on a plurality of features of the product. The report generation module 206 generates one or more actionable reports that include a basis for analysis based on the activities of user 110. The communication module 208 communicates the actionable reports to one or more original equipment manufacturer 116.

FIG. 3A through 3D illustrates a user interface view of a myprofile button 304, a ispeak button 306, a community button 310, and a more button 312 according to an embodiment herein. The user interface views 3A-3D may further include a guide button 302, and a hub integrator button 308. The guide button 302 allows you to experience the electronic document and its corresponding contents. For example, when a user visits SNAP, the user 110 may then click on the guide button 302. The guide button 302 then displays or takes a tour to how to use the SNAP feature. The myprofile button 304 allows the user 110 to navigate to his/her profile and update the desired profile information. The ispeak button 306 is a combination of a happy and a lost feedback. The ispeak button 306 allows the user 110 to write comments on the features and/or the products that the user 110 has experienced.

The hub integrator button 308 provides a description of products on how the products can be connected to other devices. For example, how to connect your products with other electronic appliances or products such as TV, music system and/or DVD player. The community button 310 allows the user 110 to share their suggestions, opinions, and other related information associated with the features of the products with a group of other users having a common interest. The community button 310 allows the user 110 to join and unjoin a particular community of his/her own interest. The more button 312 is a edited link system related to each product and available from the product home page in the interface. The list is segregated and searchable (and enriched by crowd sourcing—i.e. participation of the users and the users 110 can submit links appropriately tagged and with description of what that link is useful for and why it is being recommended). In one embodiment, the buttons 302-310 may also be referred as community buttons.

The user interface view of FIG. 3A includes a product 1 review field 314, and a write your review field 316. The user interface view of FIG. 3B includes a product 2 review field 318, and a write your review field 320. The product 1 and 2 review field 314 and 318 includes features of the product that are rated by the user 110 (e.g., style and design, ease of use, range of features, and/or value for money). The product 1 and 2 review fields 314 and 318 also includes user rating (e.g., user has rated 3.5/5 for the product), his/her recommendation (e.g., yes), read by other users (e.g., 10 times) and rated by other users (e.g., 20 times). The write your review fields 316 and 320 allows the user 110 to write his/her comments and/or reviews associated with the selected product and his/her experience in using of the selected product.

The user interface view of FIG. 3C includes a review field 322 where the user 110 may share his/her reviews about a product that he/she has experienced. For example, the user 110 on using a product writes in the write your review field “found this product to be quite flexible and very powerful. All these features of the product come together in one simple to manage. This is well organized and intuitive to navigate. A lot of functionality in a single, easy-to-use appliance”. In one embodiment, the user 110 writes his/her reviews associated with the features of the products by clicking on the ispeak button 306).

The user interface view of FIG. 3D includes a submit a link field 316, and a others field 318. The submit a link field 324 allows the user to submit a link along with a link title, description, and tags associated with a feature of the product. For example, the user 110 submits a link (e.g., http:/www.chargers.in) and the link title (e.g., chargers). In addition, the user 110 may also provide a relative description associated with the link. The others 326 field may include buy and sell, a website, downloads, applications, games, news, reviews, accessories, tips and tricks, and blogs that allows the user to manage the activities associated with these. The user 110 may also opt for polling and subscribe to the notifications associated with the features of the products. In one embodiment, the user 110 submits the link by clicking on the more button 312.

FIG. 4 is a user interface view 400 of a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Application according to an embodiment herein. The user interface view includes a report field 402, an action items field 404, and an alerts field 406. The reports field 402 includes information associated with the products, features corresponding to the products, feature group, problem level, problem nature, geography, and user level. The product information may include all the technical specifications. The feature information may have the data related to the various features of the product that the user 110 has utilized.

The report may further include the problem level (e.g., ratio of the issue addressed at the beginner, intermediate or advanced level associated with the feature of the product). In one embodiment, the user 110 can rate the problem level such as 2:10, or 5:10 or 7.5:10 based on a beginner, intermediate or advance level. In addition, the report also includes the problem nature of the feature associated with the product when the user 110 experiences using the product and/or the corresponding feature. In one embodiment, the system will further allow the generation of reports based on keywords (that are being used by users) as well as what the manufacturers can think of to narrow down comments or feature and provide a basis for analysis. Based on the reports generated corresponding to the feedbacks received from the users 110, an approximate indication of how many users in a certain location (for e.g., in U.S.A) are facing the problem, which feature of the product has troubleshooting techniques can be plotted.

The action items field 404 allows the user 110 to contact the company, call center, or the forum and post extracts for solving the problems associated with the features of the products. The alerts field 406 provides a statistical data of the products associated with the user to the OEM's on a day-to-day-basis. In one embodiment, the statistical data may be generated, recorded and provided to the OEM on at least one of an hourly basis, weekly basis, etc. The statistical data may include disfunction, new use, and/or a new feature associated with the product. In one embodiment, the statistical data maintains the record of how many users reported that a particular feature of the product is disfunctioning (or address issues raised), how many users reported that a new use of a particular feature of the product is added, and/or how many users reported that a new feature of this product has been introduced.

FIG. 5A through FIG. 5C illustrates a graphical representation of statistical data of users and products according to an embodiment herein. FIG. 5A illustrates statistical data for product and film analysis. The user interface displays the number of views on each product and each film (e.g., a video of a feature of a product) by one or more users. With reference to FIG. 5A, FIG. 5B illustrates list of users with created date, the role of the users and status of the users. With reference to FIG. 5A, FIG. 5C illustrates a number of visits by the users, the feedback given by the users. In addition, the user interface of FIG. 5C also displays if the users have added particular video/product to their favorites.

FIG. 6A through FIG. 6F is a user interface view of a user profile according to an embodiment herein. The user interface view of the user profile of FIG. 6A includes a name field 602, an age field 604, an update profile field 606, and a proceed to do the following, field 608. The name field 602 includes the name of the user 110 associated with his/her profile. In one embodiment, the user profile may also include one or more user ID's associated with his/her profile. The age field displays the age of the user 110 which is provided by the user 110 at the time of registering to the site. The update profile field 606 allows the user 110 to update his/her personal details into the electronic document (e.g., the product portal). The proceed to do the following field 608 allows the user to view his/her history of recent films, view a categorized list if his/her favorite/flagged films are under the user's manual, view and maintain records of translations contributed by the user, view and maintain a record of his/her video contributions, view and maintain a record of reviews provided by the user, view and maintain full list of notes made by the user across films on the electronic document, keep a tab on community activities that he/she is part of, etc.

The user interface view of the user profile of FIG. 6B includes the name field 602, the age field 604, the update profile field 606, the proceed to do the following field 608, a vote field 610, a customer support field 612, a chat now field 614, a notifications field 616, a my manuals field 618, a my video contributions field 620, and a my communities field 622 according to an embodiment herein. The vote field 610 provides a polling option that allows the user to vote on the various features of the product which is of interest to him/here. The customer support field 612 is a helpdesk to provide assistance in a range of with technology products that involves the planning and delivery of customer support services, including installation, configuration, troubleshooting, customer assistance, and/or training, in response to customer requirements.

In one embodiment, the user 612 may send emails to the customer support addressing the customer support services which is required by the user 110. In another embodiment, the user 110 may also initiate a call to the customer support and address the issue related to the features of the products. The chat now field 614 allows the user to chat with other users in the community which he/she has joined. The notifications field 616 displays a communication message received from the administrators, or other users or community members or non-community members. The communication message may be at least one of a discussion associated with a customer support services, or a discussion associated with the products and corresponding features of the products.

The my manuals 618 field allows the user 110 to keep a record of the recent watched films, the films owned by the user, his/her wish list. The my manuals field 618 also includes a product details such as category, manufacturer, etc. The my manuals field 618 allows the user 110 to manage the warranty of products owned and services contracted by the user 110. In addition, it also allows the user 110 to extend the warranty period of the product. The my manuals field 618 also allows the user 110 to maintain a list of films that are viewed and flagged. In one embodiment, the user 110 may flag the films associated with the feature of the products based on the importance or list into his/her favorite/flagged films as shown in FIG. 6C.

The my video contributions field 620 allows the user to upload his/her own material associated with a particular feature or a product. The material may also include a PDF document, a text document, a slide show, a video film, or a links to other electronic documents related to the feature of the products, etc as shown in FIG. 6D. In one embodiment, the user may also share the materials with other users. The my communities field allows the user to manage community activities that may include a discussion on a topics, ideas, a customer support services, including installation, configuration, troubleshooting, customer assistance, and/or training with other users associated with the features of the product. The my community field 622 allows the user to join/unjoin a community and give feedback, rate the features of the product, etc. as shown in FIG. 6E. In one embodiment, the user can join/unjoin the communities which are of interest to him/her. In an example embodiment, the user 110 has rated the products (e.g., product—rating 4 stars, product touch—rating 3 stars, product classic 2.5 stars) as shown in FIG. 6F.

The techniques provided by the embodiments herein may be implemented on an integrated circuit chip (not shown). The chip design is created in a graphical computer programming language, and stored in a computer storage medium (such as a disk, tape, physical hard drive, or virtual hard drive such as in a storage access network). In any case the chip is then integrated with other chips, discrete circuit elements, and/or other signal processing devices as part of either (a) an intermediate product, such as a motherboard, or (b) an end product. The end product can be any product that includes integrated circuit chips, ranging from toys and other low-end applications to advanced computer products having a display, a keyboard or other input device, and a central processor.

The embodiments herein can take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment including both hardware and software elements. The embodiments that are implemented in software include but are not limited to, firmware, resident software, microcode, etc.

Furthermore, the embodiments herein can take the form of a computer program product accessible from a computer-usable or computer-readable medium providing program code for use by or in connection with a computer or any instruction execution system. For the purposes of this description, a computer-usable or computer readable medium can be any apparatus that can comprise, store, communicate, propagate, or transport the program for use by or in connection with the instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

The medium can be an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system (or apparatus or device) or a propagation medium. Examples of a computer-readable medium include a semiconductor or solid state memory, magnetic tape, a removable computer diskette, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), a rigid magnetic disk and an optical disk. Current examples of optical disks include compact disk-read only memory (CD-ROM), compact disk-read/write (CD-R/W) and DVD.

A data processing system suitable for storing and/or executing program code will include at least one processor coupled directly or indirectly to memory elements through a system bus. The memory elements can include local memory employed during actual execution of the program code, bulk storage, and cache memories which provide temporary storage of at least some program code in order to reduce the number of times code must be retrieved from bulk storage during execution.

Input/output (I/O) devices (including but not limited to keyboards, displays, pointing devices, etc.) can be coupled to the system either directly or through intervening I/O controllers. Network adapters may also be coupled to the system to enable the data processing system to become coupled to other data processing systems or remote printers or storage devices through intervening private or public networks. Modems, cable modem and Ethernet cards are just a few of the currently available types of network adapters.

A representative hardware environment for practicing the embodiments herein is depicted in FIG. 7. This schematic drawing illustrates a hardware configuration of an information handling/computer system in accordance with the embodiments herein. The system comprises at least one processor or central processing unit (CPU) 10. The CPUs 10 are interconnected via system bus 12 to various devices such as a random access memory (RAM) 14, read-only memory (ROM) 16, and an input/output (I/O) adapter 18. The I/O adapter 18 can connect to peripheral devices, such as disk units 11 and tape drives 13, or other program storage devices that are readable by the system. The system can read the inventive instructions on the program storage devices and follow these instructions to execute the methodology of the embodiments herein. The system further includes a user interface adapter 19 that connects a keyboard 15, mouse 17, speaker 24, microphone 22, and/or other user interface devices such as a touch screen device (not shown) to the bus 12 to gather user input. Additionally, a communication adapter 20 connects the bus 12 to a data processing network 25, and a display adapter 21 connects the bus 12 to a display device 23 which may be embodied as an output device such as a monitor, printer, or transmitter, for example.

FIG. 8 is a flow diagram illustrating a method of analyzing and generating actionable reports based on activity of users on a product portal using a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) application according to an embodiment herein. The product portal includes multimedia files demonstrating features of a product that are stored in a database 112 (the product database 112 of FIG. 1) of an application server (e.g., the application server 104 of FIG. 1). The users have a profile on the product portal. The product portal includes a plurality of buttons 302-310. In step 802, at least one input from a plurality of users is processed based on at least one of a activity of the users the features of the product. In step 804, an analysis is generated based on the at least one activity of the plurality of users. In step 806, the actionable reports are generated based on the analysis.

A selection of the community buttons 302-310 indicate at least one of a user response to at least one of the product portal, or the features of the product. The buttons 302-310 are present on a plurality interfaces on the product portal. The activity may include any of a problem level, a problem nature, a disfunctioning, a new use, a new feature of the product, a behavior of the users on the product portal, and on the features of the product, or a geography associated with the users. The actionable reports may be communicated to at least one Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs).

The foregoing description of the specific embodiments will so fully reveal the general nature of the embodiments herein that others can, by applying current knowledge, readily modify and/or adapt for various applications such specific embodiments without departing from the generic concept, and, therefore, such adaptations and modifications should and are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalents of the disclosed embodiments. It is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation. Therefore, while the embodiments herein have been described in terms of preferred embodiments, those skilled in the art will recognize that the embodiments herein can be practiced with modification within the spirit and scope of the appended claims. 

1. A computer implemented method of analyzing and generating actionable reports based on activity of users on a product portal using a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) application, wherein said product portal comprising multimedia files demonstrating features of a product that are stored in a database of an application server, wherein said users having a profile on said product portal, wherein said product portal comprises a plurality of community buttons, said method comprising: processing at least one input from a plurality of users based on at least one of a activity of said users on said features of said product; generating an analysis based on said at least one activity of said plurality of users; and generating said actionable reports based on said analysis, wherein a selection of said community buttons indicate at least one of a user response to at least one of said product portal, or said features of said product, wherein said buttons are present on a plurality interfaces on said product portal.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein said activity comprises any of a problem level, a problem nature, a disfunctioning, a new use, a new feature of said product, a behavior of said users on said product portal, and on said features of said product, or a geography associated with said users.
 3. The method of claim 1, further comprising communicating said actionable reports to at least one Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs).
 4. A CRM application system to analyze and generate actionable reports based on activity of users on a product portal, wherein said product portal comprising multimedia files demonstrating features of a product that are stored in a database of an application server, wherein said users having a profile on said product portal, wherein said product portal comprises a plurality of community buttons, said system comprising: an activity analyze module that generates an analysis based at least one input from a plurality of users that comprises at least one of a activity of said users on said features of said product on product portal; and a report generation module that generates said actionable reports based on said analysis.
 5. The system of claim 4, further comprises a communication module that communicates said actionable reports to at least one of a Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs).
 6. The system of claim 4, wherein said report generation module generates said actionable reports based on one or more keywords used by said users in said product portal.
 7. The system of claim 5, wherein said communication module communicates said actionable reports to said Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) on a day-to-day-basis, an hourly basis, or a weekly basis.
 8. The system of claim 4, wherein said activity comprises any of a problem level, a problem nature, a disfunctioning, a new use, a new feature of said product, a behavior of said users on said product portal, and on said features of said product, or a geography associated with said users.
 9. The system of claim 4, wherein a selection of said community buttons indicate at least one of a user response to at least one of said product portal, or said features of said product.
 10. The system of claim 4, wherein said buttons are present on a plurality interfaces on said product portal. 